1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wood chippers and, more particularly, to an adjustable tension feed wheel assembly for a wood chipper.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide a wood chipper for chipping wood such as brush, branches, and the like to produce wood chips. One type of wood chipper known in the art includes an infeed chute, feed wheel assembly, and a cutting assembly having a rotatable disc with at least one knife or blade for chipping the wood entering the wood chipper and reducing it to wood chips. Typically, the feed wheel assembly includes a feed system having a stationary lower feed wheel connected to a lower housing and a movable upper feed wheel connected to an upper housing movable relative to the lower housing for allowing wood to enter the cutting assembly. The feed wheel assembly also includes a spring interconnecting the upper housing and the lower housing to urge the upper feed wheel toward the lower feed wheel to apply a spring force against the wood entering between the feed wheels to feed the wood to the cutting assembly.
Although this type of feed wheel assembly has worked well, it is desirable to adjust the tension of the spring to allow larger diameter wood entering the wood chipper to move the upper wheel only against the force of gravity under normal or extreme operating conditions. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide an adjustable tension feed wheel assembly for a wood chipper to adjust the tension of the upper feed wheel toward the lower feed wheel to infeed wood by an operator to the cutting assembly while the cutting assembly is rotating.
Accordingly, the present invention is an adjustable tension feed wheel assembly for a wood chipper including a first feed wheel and a movable second feed wheel movable relative to the first feed wheel. The adjustable tension feed wheel assembly also includes a spring operatively interconnecting the first feed wheel and the second feed wheel to urge the second feed wheel toward the first feed wheel. The adjustable tension feed wheel assembly further includes an adjustment mechanism to delay a tension of the spring to allow the second feed wheel to move away from the first feed wheel against a force of gravity before the spring applies a spring force to the second feed wheel to urge the second feed wheel toward the first feed wheel.
One advantage of the present invention is that a new and adjustable tension feed wheel assembly is provided for a wood chipper. Another advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable tension feed wheel assembly allows the tension of an upper feed wheel toward a lower feed wheel to be adjusted. A further advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable tension feed wheel assembly allows the upper feed wheel to be raised during operation against the force of gravity for a predetermined distance before a spring force is applied to allow an operator to use less force in feeding wood to the cutting assembly. Yet a further advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable tension feed wheel assembly provides a delayed tension during operation.